🔗 Share this article Artificial Intelligence Assistants Deliver ‘Misleading and Partial’ Election Guidance, Claims Netherlands Regulator AI chatbots are proving to be “inaccurate and evidently prejudiced” when offering voting advice, the Dutch data protection authority (AP) has reported, raising alarms about a potential threat to democracy just over a week before the country’s general election. Study Shows Repeated Partiality in Chatbot Recommendations The four chatbots evaluated by the authority “frequently recommend identical two parties”, regardless of the user’s question or command, the regulator noted in a analysis published ahead of the late October vote. In more than half of the cases, the AI recommended either the far-right Freedom party (PVV) of the politician Geert Wilders or the leftwing GroenLinks-PvdA led by the former European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans. Certain groups, such as the moderate CDA, “are rarely ever cited”, even when the user’s input exactly matches the stances of these political entities, the report pointed out. Authority Figure Cautions Against Relying on AI Assistants for Election Advice The deputy head of the data protection agency, Monique Verdier, stated that while chatbots may seem like clever tools, “for election guidance, they repeatedly fall short”. Citizens were being steered toward a party that might not correspond to their ideological beliefs, she emphasized. “This directly impacts a cornerstone of democracy: the integrity of free and fair elections,” Verdier stated. “We therefore warn against employing AI assistants for election recommendations, as their operation is unclear and difficult to verify.” Election Context and Political Landscape The Dutch head to the polls on October 29 in an election that will be keenly observed around Europe for the performance of the Freedom party. The far-right party of Geert Wilders is ahead in surveys but the gap to the left-wing and centre-right parties seems to be closing, with many voters still undecided. All major parties have ruled out an alliance with the PVV, meaning the runner-up party is highly probable to supply the future head of government. Unintentional Bias Linked to AI Operation The authority emphasised that the AI systems were not intentionally prejudiced, and that their “identified shortcomings” are a consequence of the way AI chatbots operate.